Uber Bosses Solo Guide (Barbarian)

Uber Bosses Solo Guide (Barbarian) submitted by Wayneold. (How to solo uber bosses.)After completing a challenge soloing Ubers I have decided that some of my information may be outdated, irrelevant, or even flat out wrong. Luckily, Death presented quite the education....and so I will copy and paste some of his tactics here unedited, and leave my guide following his comments. I know my guide has helped some people accomplish this task, but take note of some of the updated information in Death's commentary....he is very good at what he does.

Wayneold never doubt a master at his craft :P I can actually perma-wrath in even less APS gear. In fact I was able to perma-wrath with a paltry 1.28 APS and no -HoTA SoJ back when I first started making attempts. It's all in resource management and proper positioning and knowing how to fill your fury globe. Taking damage is a great way to gen fury and I use that to my advantage too.

If you watch the video again you can see that with a combination of my ability to stack the ubers so I'm often hitting 2 targets and knowing how to gen fury that it helps a lot. For the one battle that you really can't stack them reliably and that is SB/Kulle you will notice that any time I felt my WoTB timer was getting low I would immediately start hitting SB and spamming battle rage. His reflect damage is such a great tool to use for fury gen. I spam battle rage to dump fury so that I can rebuild my WoTB timer.

Also it's not a good idea to constantly chase Kulle 1st as many like to do. Notice that I only really hit him when he presents himself close by or when I want him to vanish. Yes, you can make Kulle vanish too when you want him too. If he's about a screen away and hasn't taken damage for a few seconds you can run up and hit him to make him disappear. This is useful because it gets him out of your hair for a few seconds and allows you to do more damage to SB without rocks falling on your head or fireballs landing at your feet. When it's down to just Kulle notice how I'm no longer attempting to dodge anything of his including the rocks. I want to take damage to gen fury and am standing in tornadoes and letting rocks fall on me.

Mag/SK is really another cake walk if you understand the mechanics of the fight. For instance you never have to chase SK. You can force him to go where you want him in fact. Notice how in the 1st video I literally summon him to where I want him so I can stack him an Mag and hit them both. He will always teleport back to you if you don't chase him. Using this knowledge I ignore him at the start of the fight and start hitting Mag knowing that I will bring SK right were I want him. This is a double win on may part because you want Mag in her shield ASAP for 2 reasons. 1) her swarm of bugs does less damage while she's in her bubble and 2) she is less prone to clutter the field with arcane beams.

Also take note of how I force SK to teleport back to where I want him the 2nd time he runs by just holding my ground and killing the trash he summons. I wanted him close to Mag when he died so I could more easily transition to killing her. When I start fighting Mag take note of how close I get to her. I do that so I can tank he blast of bugs she spits and use that for fury generation I even purposely take a few arcane beams to gen fury.

Last is Rak/Ghom and this fight is often overlooked because its is widely considered the easiest fight. And it is but that doesn't mean you're gonna get a good time unless you understand how to stack them. You'll notice that in both of my videos I was able to keep them in the same exact spot. How did I manage to do that twice in a row? What luck.....not really. Take note of the spot I go to in both videos.

If you stand in that area with just enough room that Ghom can circle around you and Rak's back is pinned against that pillar it kind of fools the game AI into thinking Rak is against a wall and because of this he doesn't teleport away and instead just spins and attacks you. This was one of my most guarded secrets in that fight and before this contest I hadn't shared that secret with anyone.

Also I suppose there is no harm in sharing this now either. This is the reason I was supremely confident and after I showed my team this preliminary run they all stopped doubting the set. In fact this video was what convinced Joch to let me use the unwatered down version of HoTA build and he took the Frenzy + Earthquake build.

I edited it to just show uber fight times for my team and we estimated that with transitions and letting the opening sequence play (where you cancel it and have to click ok to start the ubers) would be about a 7 mins run. And I was able to do that in the 2nd run. I was thrown off time in the 1st run by the unfortunate luck of getting Rak/Ghom 1st. I can clear them in less time than it takes WoTB to come off cooldown so as you saw in the official video I was forced to clown around and taunt until it came off cooldown.

I was planning to try again and hop for them to be last like in run 2 but I ran out of time in the contest. So I jsut submitted that run.

Another quote from Death:

Wayneold, I'm honored to be a part on this thread. However I feel that maybe you want to add that in my videos posted that I'm referencing I'm at 1.42 ASP unbuffed and using a -3 HoTA SoJ I dont want to mislead anyone into thinking I was at 1.28 APS and no -HoTA SoJ.

One of the questions I am consistently seeing presented is how to solo the Uber bosses....what are the required stats, what are the tactics, etc. So, I am going to condense all of the information that I have given out on this topic to one thread, and go through the battles one by one. Hopefully this guide will not only give me a place to reference people who ask this question, but will allow people a place to view all the information on this topic without reading the 20+ other topics asking how to do this.

For the purpose of this guide I will be using MP10 as a guide, because it is the hardest difficulty out there. If you intend on doing a lesser MP, then you will have to determine your own viability in soloing these battles based upon your previous experience with the battles. Also, I will be heavily commenting on doing these battles with the WW build, HoTA is by far faster to accomplish this task, but it also takes much better gear, and still has a tendency to be less reliable because it is also harder to evade attacks. I will give what little commentary I can on the HoTA build, but keep in mind, it is not my area of expertise.

Also, before going through this guide ask yourself why you are attempting to solo this battle? It is 10 times easier in a group, and you get the added benefit of everyone receiving the organs....if you are doing it for a challenge, then I respect that, or if you are attemptign to carry some friends through, that's alright too.....but there are plenty of ways to get around doing this battle solo, like posting in the looking for group forum. Consider that before attempting to do this.

Minimum Requirements:

One of the most frequently asked question I am asked are what are the minimum requirements to pull off these battles in MP10?

Well, all I can say about that is, there are ways around all sorts of 'requirements' with skills and passives and runes, but the things I found the most beneficial to have are:

1) at least 5% life steal. Mainly so that you can heal off of Seigebreaker even with his reflect damage.

2) over 450 all resist. This all depends on your health pool, tactics, passives, etc. but this is a general rule....don't read too much into it.

3) over 1 mill tDPS according to d3rawr for WW: http://www.d3rawr.com/Over 175k stat sheet DPS for HoTA (lowest I have seen so far, once again, not a HoTA expert)Over 100k stat sheet DPS for HoTA (with 8%+ life steal 55k HP and about 520 AR according to silverfire)

So, these minimum requirements are meant as a GUIDELINE in the truest sense of the word. All of these battles can be accomplished with less then these values, these are simply the lowest values that I have personally seen, do NOT read too much into these. If you don't meet these requirements, and think you have a good handle on the battles, and believe you can solo them, you probably can....give it a try.

Battles:

Rak + Ghom

All vids I will be referencing are of me soloing these battles with a dead player in the game, if you want to refer to the original topic I made it can be found here:

This battle is by far the easiest, and that is why I start with it. With enough defence and sustain WW Barb's, HoTA barbs, and even S&B barbs should be able to take this battle solo without much of an issue.

TACTICS:

Focus on Rakanoth, let Ghom follow you around and absorb your collateral damage whether it is tornados, splash damage from HoTA, or AoE moves like rend or revenge. When you have killed Rakanoth, Ghom should have fairly low health and shouldn't be much of an issue....

Consider Superstition if your resists are low and Ghom's cloud is taking you out (it also works as a fury generator for nearly unlimited fury in this battle), or increase your life steal with Bloodthirst if you can't overpower the DoT that is being done to you. If you are having trouble soloing this battle, the rest aren't for you, it only gets harder.

Once you have enough defense to take a couple hits from Skele, and eat some moths off Maghda you should be able to take this one down. The tactics are not too terribly difficult, but the gear check involved to sustain the burst damage both of these are capable of dealing out can be a wake up call for some people. Following the minimum requirements outlined above should put this battle in your wheelhouse.

TACTICS:

Target Skele for the battle, and try to involve Maghda in some splash damage until she puts up her sheild. Anyone who has done this battle before knows she refuses to drop her sheild until Skele is dead.....and even then sometimes she bugs out and won't drop her sheild until you stop attacking her for a bit....this might cost you your WoTB, but hopefully by that time it is off of cooldown.

A big mistake I see a lot of people make is charging Skele right at the beginning of the battle. Keep in mind that he initiates his spirit walk attack at the beginning of every battle, and you haven't had an opportunity yet to start your life leech, so a lot of people end up getting 1-shot right from the start. Sit back, let him do his attack, then initiate contact.

As far as a skill set goes I find Superstition helps a lot in this battle for me because of Maghda's arcane beams. War Cry is a huge help because of dulling the burst damage these 2 are capable of inflicting, and overpower, or another AoE damage like revenge or rend is a huge help for when Skele and Maghda cast their summons.

Skele is really only dangerous if you can't absorb his spirit walk, and don't have enough life steal to heal off of him. Otherwise, just keep an eye on the mini map when he teleports, stay on him, and keep your health constantly topped off.

WW build for this battle is more about positioning Maghda where she isn't in a corner surrounded by beams, you need to be patient, lure her into the open, and don't get too obsessed with staying right on top of her. She is the most dangerous when you are unable to damage her and she can surround herself with powerful spells. It is best to be patient and survive then to rush in and make a very easy mistake. If your potions are on cooldown from a mistake you made, kite her around a bit for the extra insurance of having one at the ready. Also, her minions hit hard...and have the capability of taking you out, when she initially summons, juke in and out to let them swing their hammers and miss you, they will get stuck in the ground, then you jump in for full on damage, if they have enough time for a second swing, just rinse and repeat the tactic until they are dead.

This is the battle most people (including myself in this topic:http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/7415156034 ) have problems with. It can be very difficult to manage without the right gear and skill set. Not to mention in order to use WW with this battle you need to be proficient on how to keep up your WoTB between Seige picking you up to prevent your buff from expiring. For tips on how to keep WoTB going I will reference my post in Uberjagers guide about double and triple tapping sprint while spamming Battle Rage....it allows me to refill my WoTB on this battle, and normally I am able to carry the buff the entirety of the battle:

Now that I have mentioned Wrath of the Berzerker, a common question I see on the message boards is how to maintain it indefinently. First thing's first: you need the Thrive on Chaos rune in order to do this, next, you need enough critical hit chance, IAS, and movement speed (more move speed = more tornado's produced from sprint) to be able to generate fury necessary to keep the buff. Also, the monsters must have enough health on whatever MP level you are on to support being hit enough to generate that fury. Beyond that, it is all dependent on tactics.

Wrath of the Berzerker is by far the best singular buff in the game, it gives you amazing offensive and defensive buffs along with crowd control immunity....who wouldn't want this buff 100% of the time? Keeping it maintained indefinently comes down to 2 things, generating enough fury, and spending excess fury.

Fury generated while at maximum of your globe does not increase the uptime of Wrath of the Berzerker, this is a VERY IMPORTANT thing to understand, and it is the cause of most people losing the buff. Fury generation is rarely the issue, but it is the gentle balance of spending the fury necessary so that all fury gained is applied to keeping the buff. In order to spend fury the Whirlwind has 2 consistently used skills that are able to accomplish such a task, Battle Rage and Sprint. These skills must be used when they can be in order to drop fury to a level where fury gained is applied toward keeping Wrath of the Berzerker.

I generate enough fury where during WW battle except on single target I can spam Battle Rage every time it is available, when I have a single target or so many enemies that I can't spend enough fury I like to double or triple tap the Sprint skill. A lot of people make their mistake on this....if you just continue to hit sprint constantly you will not produce tornados until the last use of the skill, it resets the tornados produced every time you click the skill, by double or triple tapping the skill, allowing 2-3 seconds for your tornados to produce, then repeating that you can effectively drop your fury and refill it without bottoming out your fury. Here is a video of me using such a tactic:

As you can see, the timer on my Wrath of the Berzerker does not count down hardly at all even on single targets, plus I am actually able to add time to the buff when I find a pack large enough to support the fury generation necessary.

If you are already proficient at keeping Wrath going, regardless of your build choice for this battle you will have a much easier time.

TACTICS: When you are attempting to solo this battle there are a few things you really need to keep in mind. First off, Seige is not a great resource to heal off of unless you have 8+% life steal, or 5%+ with a lot of LoH. This is because his reflect damage affix dampens your ability to heal. Secondly, if you target Seige first and try to kill him off because he is easier, you will be within his grasp for his pick-up attack more often, Kulle will be irritating you with his slow time bubbles, and you probably won't heal back to full fast enough to be able to absorb any kind of burst damage. Lastly, this fight has a lot of timing and positioning built into it, where you might fail at it one time, you will succeed the next....persistence is rewarded.

Regardless of build, target Kulle first, allow Seige to follow you around while you search out Kulle on the mini-map after his teleports. Cold SoJ or freeze-capable followers will help lock down Kulle long enough in one area to put a fairly decent amount of damage on him before he teleports again. By targeting Kulle you subject Seige to a greater amount of splash damage from your attacks, not to mention when both bosses are alive you want to attack the one that heals you the fastest, and without reflect damage, that is Kulle. The only time you should be targeting Seige while Kulle is alive is when Kulle is completely covered by slow-time bubbles and you are waiting for him to teleport, you need fury in a pinch, or Kulle has teleported and not re-appeared.

The main way people die in this battle, and it is understandable, is when Seige picks you up and shakes you around for a while, and Kulle drops rocks on you or tornados you. It is definently a helpless feeling. There are ways to mitigate this type of damage though.

-Use defensive passives like Superstition or Tough as Nails-If you have high enough health, use Inspiring presense so you are regaining health even while being picked up-Use War Cry-Use Overpower - Crushing Advance in your build and try to have it off cooldown when Seige picks you up, then use the skill right before he slams you down, or if Kulle casts a spell on you while you are immobilized-Time your potions correctly, and only use them when you are in this scenario-Keep WoTB up for increased dodge chance of Kulle's spells

Hopefully with one or more of these tips you can find a way to get around this very frustrating killer combination of being immobile and helpless while getting attacked. Also, if your follower is set up to freeze they can be your biggest advantage in this battle when Kulle is frozen, or they can also be your biggest enemy while they keep resetting Seige's animation while you are dangled helplessly in the air. Consider changing their weapons and armor to cold damage weapons to slow the bosses movement without necessarilly freezing them.

If Kulle decides he wants to cast slow time bubbles all around himself, that is when you should kite Seige away, use him to heal off of, and wait for Kulle to transport to an area where you can more easily damage him. After you are able to kill Kulle, Seige should have taken considerable splash damage and be much easier to DPS down on his own. This fight is a race against time as well though, and it is very easy to hit their enrage timers if you are not able to kill Kulle effectively. The lowest damage outputs I have seen this battle done with are listed in the minimum requirements, but if you are able to do it with less, kudos to you.

SUMMARY:

I hope that this guide is comprehensive enough to answer a lot of questions about this battle, I will update it as more questions are brought up. If you want to view Det0x's world record Uber MP10 kill times view it here: